It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of the Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) in Tainan on Thursday. He will be remembered as one of Taiwan’s leading lights in its early hours of darkness and a beacon in its transition to democracy.
The Reverend Kao was already a towering figure in the 1970s for his role in the three statements by the Presbyterian Church urging the repressive Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to move toward freedom, democracy and independence: the “Statement on our National Fate” (1971), “Our Appeal” (1975) and, most famously, the “Declaration on Human Rights” (1977), in which the church urged the KMT government “to face reality and to take effective measures whereby Taiwan may become a new and independent country.”
The Reverend Kao again showed his courage after the now well-known Formosa Magazine incident in December 1979, when thousands of people took to the streets in Kaohsiung to urge the government to end martial law, which had been imposed 30 years earlier in 1949. The government responded by cracking down on the budding dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) opposition movement and started to arrest all of its major leaders.
One of the Formosa Magazine leaders, Shih Ming-te (施明德), had initially been able to escape arrest, and the Reverend Kao agreed that the church should provide him shelter. This landed Reverend Kao and nine other Presbyterians in prison.
We first met the Reverend Kao and his courageous wife in November 1984 in Taipei, just a few months after he had been released. There had been much international pressure on the KMT regime, and finally then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) relented and ordered the release of the Reverend Kao and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), whose mother and twin daughters were stabbed to death while he was in prison.
During our moving visit, the Reverend Kao recounted some of his prison experiences, but he also told us how he had been able to provide comfort and solace to others in prison. The visit cemented a friendship for life.
We kept in touch over the years, but the next major event was the December 2003 reunion of international human rights and church workers organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The Reverend Kao gave a moving account of the church’s role in Taiwan’s transition to democracy.
He spoke at the Tainan Theological College and Seminary with his interpreter. We had Japanese, Americans and Europeans in the group, so the Reverend Kao spoke Japanese and the interpreter needed to do only one translation: into English.
We met the Reverend Kao for the last time just two years ago, in Tainan in March 2017, when we were doing research at National Cheng Kung University. We visited him and his wife at their home for a simple meal. Although he was getting weak and frail, he was still full of spirit, talking about how we could advance Taiwan and its future in the international community.
We will fondly remember the Reverend Kao for his warmth, his vision, his courage and his great contributions to Taiwan’s transition to democracy. He was an inspiration to all of us.
Gerrit van der Wees is a former Dutch diplomat. He and his wife, Chen Mei-chin, published Taiwan Communique, which chronicled Taiwan’s transition to democracy.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
RSS